As players, coaches and club executives gathered Sunday for the annual "Brewers On Deck" fan fest at the Delta Center, the central theme was impossible to ignore.

Milwaukee fans wanted to know. The assembled media wanted to know.

Can the 2013 Brewers really compete for the playoffs with a starting rotation that might include three pitchers with less than a year of experience in the big leagues?

Principal owner Mark Attanasio, for one, made it clear that he didn't consider it a problem to give starting opportunities to the likes of Mike Fiers, Wily Peralta and Mark Rogers, who performed well down the stretch in 2012 when the Brewers were fighting for a wild-card berth.

"I'm really excited to see how all these guys do," Attanasio said during a break from an event that drew 11,722 despite weather issues. "They not only kept us in the race, they got us back in the race last year. You have guys like Rogers and Peralta who throw 95-96 mph. Mike Fiers probably just ran a little out of gas last year (with a tough September).

"One of the things we can measure is how many of these guys are being asked about in trades. The answer is all of them. If other teams, including winning teams, want these guys, why shouldn't we use them?

"I'm aware that come midseason, whether it's (from) here or somewhere else, you may need to (make adjustments). We're ready to do that."

Right-hander Yovani Gallardo, 33-19 over the past two seasons, is the unquestioned No. 1 starter. And manager Ron Roenicke made it clear that he expects right-hander Marco Estrada (5-7, 3.64 last season) to man another of the five spots in the rotation.

After that, Roenicke said he'll wait to see who wins the other three spots in spring training.

"The nice thing is we don't have just three guys for those three spots," said Roenicke, who also is hoping left-hander Chris Narveson makes a full recovery from rotator-cuff surgery.

"We've got two or three other guys we feel comfortable can do it. Going into it knowing that it's not just these three guys and you have to do it all year, we don't have to do that. We've got four guys we know can pitch in the big leagues for three spots.

"When you say, 'Can you win (the NL Central),' certainly we can. It's going to be tough. There are some good teams in our division."

General manager Doug Melvin noted how important it was that Peralta and Rogers came up from the minors for the stretch run and performed well as the Brewers battled for a playoff berth before falling short. Otherwise, he said the comfort level would not have been as great.

"We were encouraged by their performance last August and September," said Melvin. "They performed well enough to give us confidence. The challenge is doing it over the course of the marathon season.

"We felt this was the time and opportunity to give them the ball. They all pitched very well. We like the ballclub. There were a lot of positives that took place in August and September of last season.

"I'm not saying it's a gamble. I wake up every morning, it's a gamble."

The Brewers are dropping their opening day payroll from $101 million to less than $80 million, which reflects the lower salaries of young pitchers. While that decrease provided flexibility to add veteran pitching, Melvin said he'd prefer to save that for later when additions might put the club over the top.

"There's three kinds of spending," said Melvin. "There's spending to spend; there's wise spending; then there's bad spending. I've been involved of all three of them.

"I feel confident in the guys at this point. It's up to them to go out and perform. There's nothing wrong with being young and energetic and having good physical ability. Everybody was young at one time."

The Brewers did make a run over the winter at free agent pitcher Ryan Dempster before being outbid by Boston. And they continue to keep tabs on what's happening with veteran righty Kyle Lohse, whose market didn't develop as expected.

But, barring a series of pratfalls during spring training that would prompt the decision-makers to seek outside help before opening day, the Brewers are primed to answer those who have criticized them for failing to develop their own starting pitchers.

"There's more unknowns than we had last year because of the lack of experience with our starting pitchers," said all-star leftfielder Ryan Braun. "They're inexperienced but also talented. There's a lot of uncertainty but certainly a lot of talent. I know I'm excited about the depth we now have in our starting pitching as an organization.

"You've seen them succeed at the highest level. It's one thing to be a prospect and have success in the minor leagues. But to see those guys come up and succeed at this level, it gives me that much more confidence and as a team it gives everybody else more confidence, not only that they can produce but succeed and thrive at this level."

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